Year in Review: “Year in Review” is a bit of a misnomer with Escobar. Let’s retrace the steps. 09/22/07: At the tail end of an excellent season for Escobar, the LA Times reports that the pitcher will miss his next start due to shoulder inflammation. 09/29/07: Escobar makes his last start of 2007, failing to pitch in the ALDS versus Boston. 03/26/08: Escobar is diagnosed with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He chooses rehab over surgery. 07/29/08: Still experiencing pain in his shoulder, Escobar has surgery to repair his labrum. 05/22/09: Escobar begins his minor league rehab. 06/01/09: Escobar completes his rehab: 3 GS, 15.2 IP, 13 K, 3 BB. 06/06/09: In his first ML start since ‘07, Escobar does this: 5 IP, 5 K, 4 BB, 7 GB, 0 LD. After that: still experiencing pain, Escobar is forced to shut it down for the remainder of the season.

The Year Ahead: Escobar pitched five innings in 2009. Impressive innings, sure, but you’d be understating the case to say there are some sample size issues there. His 2008 was actually, unbelievably even less productive: 0 IP, 0 K, and so on. What Escobar really needs to do is get healthy. To that end, he’ll almost definitely return as a reliever, although the Mets club may need him in the starting rotation. And as for how he’ll pitch when he actually does return, despite the dearth of recent data, there’s still every indication he’ll be effective. In his one start in 2009, his fastball averaged 93.7 mph – just a touch above his career average. (Carson Cistulli)